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expedia.com - confirmation it's not

I reserved a flight and hotel at Expedia.
I received an email about the flight:

"Thank you for booking with Expedia! Your booking is confirmed"!!

Unfortunately this statement is false and even borders with fraud.

Based on this email I reserved the hotel which was a none refundable rate.

Following I received an email and subsequent phone calls telling me that the flight is NOT confirmed and as I have no ticket # I have no right to assume it's confirmed....
When I stated that not only I received an email confirmation from Expedia and my CC was charged, Why does the same flight still appears at the Expedia site??
The answer was: This is not Expedia's responsibility... The Airlines do that and it's their responsibility.

Expedia suggested an alternative flight at more than double the cost (+$2200 !!)

OK, I said, if you cancel my flight, please cancel my hotel as well. The reply was: This is not possible, you have to contact another department which handles hotel reservations.

Is that a serious?
Expedia misleads with false information about flight being confirmed. I would expect a clear note to say: DO not make any other arrangements based on this booking until you receive the ticket itself, Expedia is not responsible for the flights advertised"...

If this happened in the US, you can dispute the charge by contacting your credit card issuer. That will get Expedia's attention. I would first do what you were told and contact the department that handles hotel reservations and demand that they cancel it as Expedia has made it impossible for you to use it.

Christmas morning our daughter became ill and our prepaid trip booked through Expedia to Cabo San Lucas, hotel Casa Dorada had to be cancelled. We called Casa Dorada at 7:00 am and they advised that the trip was booked through Expedia and Expedia would have to cancel. We called Expedia and the agent put us on hold while she called the hotel. Expedia came back on the line and confirmed that she had spoke with the hotel the reservations department was closed for Christmas and they could not make a change to the reservation. I called the hotel back and confirmed what Expedia had said. Casa Dorada advised that their cancelation policy is one month in advance of stay but that our travel agency's policy would prevail. Expedia's policy: Cancellations or changes made after 12:00 AM (Mexico Standard Time) on December 24, 2013 are subject to a hotel fee equal to the first night's rate plus taxes and fees. Cancellations or changes made after check-in on December 25, 2013 are subject to a hotel fee equal to 100% of the total amount paid for the reservation. Today Expedia tells us that even though we have confirmation from Expedia stating the cancellation policy, our entire $2400.00 prepaid stay is lost. BEWARE of EXPEDIA and Casa Dorada. Expedia refuses to connect us with any sort of manager or supervisor. They will not identify themselves with anything more than a first name. Even though they sent us a confirmation of their cancellation policy they actually are refusing to honor their own policy and siding with the hotel and their one month prior cancellation policy. It's a disaster.

whitaker12345 : Welcome to Fodors. Why Beware Expedia??? I'd think getting any refund for a Christmas booking cancelled on Christmas Day would be a very long shot . . . with any company. That is what Travel Insurance is for . . .

When it is necessary to cancel through a third party like Expedia, how much time in advance of cancellation deadline should one give the third party to carry out the cancellation?

If hotel check in time was 14:00 hotel local time 25 December and you called Expedia at oh, three hours prior to that check in time on 25 December, then that should have easily put you under the wire. But what if you called with only an hour to spare...a half hour... a quarter hour? How late can one actually call and still get the cancellation processed in time to be valid before the deadline expires?

And with Expedia's insane practice of only allowing calls (not on-line cancellations on their site) you have likely no record of just when you did try to contact Expedia/the hotel.